Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes a higher spec, HD-enabled "Wii 2" could be on the shelves "in a couple of years".

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has told
GamesIndustry.biz that he believes a higher spec,
HD-enabled "Wii 2" could be on the shelves "in a couple of
years".

Pachter's comments came in response to those made by SEGA
executive Scott Steinberg, who expressed
concern about the long term future of Nintendo's console.

"I think that a lot of people consider the Wii a "fad", and
attribute that conclusion to the type of people who have been
attracted to the Wii so far," Pachter said, observing that
many publishers "don't know what to do with" the new
demographics of female and older gamers.

"Sega, of course, has games like Sonic that resonate well
with this audience, so I'm not singling them out as having an
issue, but it appears to me that these non-traditional
consumers baffle most of the publishers," he continued.

"As they are unaccustomed to dealing with them this early in
the cycle, they have to justify their oversight in not
anticipating the strength of the Wii with this group by
labelling the group as having no staying power, resulting in
the labelling of the Wii as a fad."

With regard to Steinberg's suggestion that developers are
reaching the limits of creative possibility when it comes to
the Wii's remote control, Pachter said, "I can't begin to
imagine what is on the drawing board for the Wii, but I can
say that most developers I've spoken with are extemely
excited about the potential for the console... I believe that
we've only just scratched the surface.

"Also, Scott's analysis presupposes that we have seen the
last in hardware innovation from Nintendo," he went on.

"I disagree. It's easy to envision a Wii 2 in a couple of
years that runs at full HD, and has both a Wii-mote and an
analog controller, so that all games can be ported to it.

"If Nintendo were to introduce such a device, it would be
fully comparable to the Xbox 360 - perhaps it wouldn't have
Blu-ray, so a comparison to the PS3 may be unfair - and would
likely have most of the same third party content as the other
two devices."

But Pachter did agree with Steinberg that the PS3 "will
ultimately come out on top". Victory, he predicted, will be
the result of a console price cut to USD 199 and the success
of Blu-ray.

Price point is key, said Pachter - observing that 80 per cent
of all Xboxes sold in the US were purchased for USD 199 or
less, with the figure approximately the same for PlayStation
2.

"Sony is around 6 million units behind Microsoft, and should
be able to make up the gap - barely - by 2009 if they price
the console correctly. They will likely be 9 million units
behind the Wii by the end of this year, so it may take a bit
longer to catch Nintendo, likely 2011 or so," Pachter
concluded.

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